Shang Yang And Legalist Reform In The Ancient Chinese State Of Qin

• Author: Daniel Haitas
• Pages: 100-111

LESIJ NO. XXV, VOL. 1/2018

SHANG YANG 󱼞 AND LEGALIST REFORM IN THE

ANCIENT CHINESE STATE OF QIN 󰷚

Daniel HAITAS

Abstract

Legalism has played a major role in the history of the Chinese lega l a nd governmental

tradition. One of the major exponents a nd formulators of this school of thought in ancient times was

Shang Yang, an official in the state of Qin. Shang Yang oversaw a progra m of la w reform in Qin in

such ar eas as criminal law and the economic life of the country which aimed to strengthen the power

of the state. This can be said to have had long ter m consequences for both Chinese and world history,

in that the strengthening and r eorganization of Qin a long the lines of Legalist principles helped lead

to its gaining preeminence amongst the other sta tes vying for influence in the Warr ing States period,

ultimately leading to the unification of China under the rule of the Qin dynasty.

Keywords: Shang Yang, Legalism, law reform, Qin state, cr iminal law, economic regulation

1. Introduction

Throughout much of the history of the

Chinese legal and governmental tradition,

two different schools of thought have been

portrayed as competing and coexisting at the

same time; these are the Legalists 󰘳 and

the Confucians .

1 Both sought to

maintain social order, yet differed in the

primary methods through which they sought

to achieve this end.2 The Legalists generally

believed in increasing the power of the ruler

 Theăstudyăwasămadeăunderătheăscopeăofă theăMinistryăofăJustice’săprogramă onăstrengtheningătheăqualityăofălegală

education/Az Igazságügyi Minisztérium jogászképzés színvonalának emelését célzó programjai keretében valósult meg.

 Junior Research Fellow, MTA-DE Public Service Research Group, Lecturer and PhD Student, Géza Marton

Doctoral School of Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Debrecen, (e-mail: danielhaitas@gmail.com).

1 Xin Ren: Tradition of the Law and the Law of the Tradition: Law, State, a nd Social Control in China,

Greenwood Press, Conneticut, 1997, p. 19.

2 T’ung-Tsu Chu: Law and Society in Traditional China, Mouton, Paris, 1961, p. 226.

3 Yongping Liu: Origins of Chinese Law: Penal and Administrative Law in its Early Development, Oxford

University Press, Oxford, 1998, p. 173.

4 Zhengyuan Fu: Autocratic Tradition and Chinese Politics, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 30.

5 Ren op. cit., p. 19.

6 Herrlee G. Creel: Chinese Though from Confucius to Mao Tse-tung, 1953, p. 141.

through written laws that would strengthen

the power of the state,3 while the

Confucians, whose beliefs are seen as a

manifestation of fe udal and traditional

Chinese values,4 placed more emphasis upon

the idea that the ruler had to support and

adhere to a certain moralistic order, which

involved following proper rules of

proprietary and behaviour.5 An important

member of the Legalist school was Shang

Yang, an official in the state of Qin during

the fourth centur y B.C.6 two areas in which

he had a particularly strong influence were

criminal law and in regulation of the